Feeling the pinch? Take part in news.com.au’s cost of living survey

COST of living is a hot topic in any lounge room, office or pub in Australia.

The cost of groceries, bills, childcare, petrol and you name it keep rising while only the cost of big ticket items you buy once in a blue moon (like big screen TVs) seem to be falling. But with wage growth at an all-time low and unemployment at a 17-year high, it seems like there’s less and less money left over every week.

The thing about cost of living is that it’s a universal problem. Whether you’re a low income earner with a household kitty of $40,000 a year or you’re better off with an income well into the six-figures, everyone is feeling the pinch, at least a little.

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ROBYN — 52, single, on less than $50,000

Robyn is a 52-year old woman sharing a $600 a week apartment in Sydney with a flatmate. She makes less than $50,000 a year. She said: “I find food has gone up and fares have gone up. I don’t earn over $50,000 and this year my company didn’t even give me a pay rise or bring it in line with inflation. I find it really hard to make ends meet in Sydney.”

Robyn spends $400 to $500 a month on groceries and $150 on public transport. She said she’s lucky that her landlord pays her electricity bill. As for holidays, she’s going to Hawaii at Christmas but said it was expensive.

Robyn said she previously lived in Rockingham in Western Australia for a number of years and said the cost of rent there is great (newish three-bedroom villa for $290 a week). She said food cost roughly the same in Rockingham, about an hour outside of Perth, but going out for the night to the pub cost a fortune because venues were priced high to take advantage of miners with high salaries.

The rising cost of fuel is a common complain among Australians.Source:News Limited

“If I had at least another $200 every month, it would make it much easier,” Robyn said. “I get paid monthly and once I load my transport card, do the grocery shopping and pay my bills, it’s all gone.

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“I think the cost of living will go up. I originally thought it was going to come down because the government said it would from the carbon tax ending but I haven’t seen it and don’t believe it will down the line.”

Robyn said she had no hopes of buying property in Sydney but thought she might look into getting an investment property back in Rockingham.

She said: “The cost of living shouldn’t be that much but unfortunately it is.”

ROHIT, 29, single on $104,000

Rohit built up a $70,000 debt for his two-year’s Masters Degree, which he owes to his parents and the bank. Despite being on a six-figure income, Rohit feels that the cost of living in Sydney is such that he finds it very hard to save a substantial amount of money.

From his $5500 a month after tax, his loan repayments set him back $1000 every month while another $1000 goes to rent, $800 to his car loan and $150 to $200 a month going to bills. When he goes to the supermarket, he spends anywhere between $60 to $200 but that’s primarily on snacks and household goods.

That degree is great but now you have to pay for it.Source:ThinkStock

He spends about $200 a week eating out because as a single person working full time, it’s hard to cook every night. His big luxury is regular small holidays to Melbourne or the Gold Coast.

On a good month, he puts away $1000 towards his house deposit. He would like to buy a property by the time he’s 32-years old but said the increasingly property prices means that target is very changeable.

“I think the cost of living is going to keep going up because everything keeps going up all the time,” he said. “I’m glad I’ve finished my studies now because with the cost of education going up, I’d have an even bigger debt.”

JESSICA, 31, family on four on $245,000

Jessica and her family are a prime example of a family who’s seemingly on really good money but find themselves in the same situation as many people on much lower incomes.

“My husband and I earn close to nearly $245,000 a year and really struggle with the cost of living raising our three and two-year-olds,” she said. “The reality is we will never be able to break the cost of living cycle to buy our own house. Before you roll your eyes, we don’t live a life of luxury.”

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Jessica said when she took parental leave to have her second child, she wasn’t entitled to any leave entitlements because she had been on a contract. As a result, her family took out loans to maintain their standard of living which saw their personal and credit debt spiral to almost $55,000.

For Jessica, her family’s biggest expense is childcare. Image: Thinkstock.Source:Supplied

Out of the $12,500 Jessica and her husband get after tax every month, $2500 automatically go towards loan repayments.

The biggest single cost to Jessica every month is full time childcare for her two children. In the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, childcare is setting her back $5000 a month, which is about standard for the area. Rent is another $2500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.

After the cost of rent, loan repayments and childcare, the family of four is left with $2500 a month to cover everything else. Their regular expenses includes $150 on phones, $600 in fuel and car expenses, and between $320 and $700 on groceries, which leaves pretty much nothing from that initial $12,500.

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“I don’t think it matters how much you have, everyone has bills to pay and no one can afford them,” she said. “We haven’t been on a holiday in years and any extra money goes into the offset account from our personal loan, which we have to dip into when a birthday comes up.

“The reality is if we save half our monthly disposable cash, it will be 40 years until we can afford a 5 per cent deposit to buy a house at the average Sydney house price.

“I don’t think the cost of living in Australia is going to come down. There’s this feeling in Australia of impossible growth and that everything is going to double or triple. I think a lot of that comes down to consumer ignorance. Companies incrementally raise prices and people continue to put the same things in their baskets.”

Last names withheld on request.

If there are cost of living issues you would like to see us write about, please email wenlei.ma@news.com.au